Drinks At the Ivy
by AppleLass
Summary: Right after "I'll Be Seeing You," Jo flees. Afterwards, she and Zane meet up by accident at a bar called The Ivy. Will they be able to work out what's going on, while trying to save Eureka yet again? Jo/Zane, plus some adult themes  drinking, etc. .
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Eureka or any of these characters. No money is being made off of the writing of this work.

A/N: This takes place immediately after "I'll Be Seeing You."

Zane stood there stunned as Jo back-peddled and fled the station. Zoe hung cloying around his neck, and Andy started whistling from the back room. There was too much commotion, and all he could hear was a loud throbbing noise echoing in his ears. His heartbeat.

His body felt numb. Well, all except for his lips. They still burned and tingled with the memory of Jo's easy and enthusiastic kiss. He had been telling her the truth when he said that it had not felt like the first time. No... her kiss felt like the Christmas he remembered from childhood; all sparkly and warm and full of presents. But he had pushed - like always - and she had run off.

Zoe's sugary perfume clogged his nose. Jo had smelled of soap. Zoe's smell was just one more cacophonous thing pressing on his brain. He needed to get clear of it all and think.

"Listen, Zoe, I don't think we should see each other any more," Zane said softly, reaching up and slowly removing her tentacles from around his neck.

"You - what? Did my father threaten you? Ugh! I am going to kill him!"

Zane had to shake his head in response to the way she stamped her foot. "No, he didn't mention that at all. But I had a lot of time to think, Zoe, and I don't know if what we have would last. I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want to get hurt either. You still have so much ahead of you, and I feel like I'd hold you back." His mouth kept moving and comforting words kept coming out, but his brain had tuned her out. He felt sorry for the kid, but that was about it. She was a friend, a good friend, but not someone he was going to bring home to meet his mother.

Jo, on the other hand... He was starting to get an inkling of what exactly was going on with her, and the possibilities excited him as a man and intrigued him as a scientist. It took a good twenty minutes of trying to pry a teary-eyed Zoe off of him completely, until finally she stormed out. Her temper would pass, like her infatuation, but right now he needed a drink.

Cafe Diem would be crawling with regulars, and the last thing he wanted to do was face friends and relatives of his most current ex. Besides, if someone wanted alcohol in Eureka, they only went to one place. The Ivy.

The Ivy was a little hole in the wall bar at the far end of town. They said the original founders did some of their best collaborative brainstorming in the bar. Rumor held that the current chalk-board covered walls were simply nailed into place over the original ones that still held the chalk musings of Eureka's founders.

People who came to the Ivy came for a little bit of quiet and a stiff drink. There were five bar stools at the bar, and three booths along the outside wall. It was never crowded, but hardly ever empty. Tonight there was only one other patron at the bar, sitting far against the wall. Someone Zane had never seen at the Ivy before.

"What are you drinking?" he asked softly, standing back a few feet from her. He did not want to invade Jo's personal space when she was feeling as vulnerable and unhappy as she looked.

Her eyes widened briefly before she closed them and shook her head in defeat. "What do you want, Zane?"

"Well, I really came in here for a few beers to relax after the afternoon I just had, but what you got looks better. Whiskey?"

She looked at him for a long second, then turned back to her glass. "Jack," she replied.

He signaled for another from the bartender, and sat down at the barstool next to her.

"I'm not answering any of your questions right now," she muttered into her glass before she took a sip.

"I'm not asking any of them right now. Though you know I wish I was." The bartender brought over his drink and he nodded his thanks. "I really did just come here for a drink."

"I thought you were celebrating your triumphant return to society." Jo would not look at him when she spoke, but he really wished she would. He hated to see that defeated look in her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure Zoe retracted her invitation when I broke up with her."

"You what? Why?"

She looked a little horrified. He felt a little horrified. And yet... "I guess in the end it came down being at different places in our lives. All she wants right now is a carefree fling."

"I was pretty sure that's what you wanted, Donovan," Jo muttered.

"Yeah, well, maybe that's my problem. I'm starting to wonder if I'm supposed to be somewhere else in my life. If I'm supposed to have moved beyond meaningless flings, wanting something more."

"This sounds more like a conversation between you and yourself."

"You started it, Jo. You started the conversation by hurling a ring at me that I wasn't supposed to be ready for yet. That I'm supposed to be afraid of. And now all I can do is wonder if the strange theories I've come up with in my head are real or not."

"I said I wasn't answering questions right now." Jo shot him a glare, and he realized that she was beginning to feel uncomfortable again. He had to remember not to push too hard, or she would just run. Well, run or taser him.

"Don't answer them then. Don't tell me anything. Instead, feel free to sit in silence while I do the same, contemplating my first mid-life crisis."

"I hardly think this counts as a mid-life crisis," she pointed out, waving her now-empty glass in his direction.

Zane shrugged. "Fine. Identity crisis. I need to reconcile the two of me - the man I am and the one you knew. From the limited bit of information I've been able to gather, thanks to you Ms. Lupo, it sounds like I'm the evil twin."

"Zane -"

"No, no," he cut her off. "I don't want to know. I just want to see how it feels for a few minutes to know that there's a good twin out there."

She let him sit in silence before sighing. "I can't tell you Zane. I don't know what you're thinking, but I just can't tell you."

"Can't? Can't and not won't?" he clarified.

"Can't."

"I suppose that makes me feel a little better." He glanced over at her drink. "Another?"

"Sure."

He motioned for the bartender, who had unobtrusively moved halfway back into the kitchen to wash glasses while they had been talking.

"So what are you drinking to?" he asked Jo when she had a new drink.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I kissed a woman who was not my girlfriend, then broke up with said girlfriend, and now I'm contemplating reevaluating my whole dating strategy. That's what has me drinking. Why are you here at," he checked his watch, "four in the afternoon?"

"You? The past? I don't even know anymore," she said softly, not looking in his direction.

"Well then. A toast perhaps is in order. To...maybe starting over?" He raised his glass, and she clinked it with a bittersweet smile.

"Sure. To starting over."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka, the characters, the Ivy, or anything that goes on in, with, or between said intellectual properties.

The alcohol in Jo's belly was starting to make her warm and light-headed. She knew it was the alcohol, but somehow she felt more optimistic about her and Zane. He was no longer with Zoe, and the Zane she knew would keep her secret. Maybe she could tell him about going back in time and screwing up Eureka. Maybe he could help?

"Jo! There you are. I need your help."

Bright afternoon sun invaded the small bar as Sheriff Carter entered the bar and zeroed right in on her. "Sup, Carter?" she called, almost forgetting to glare.

"There's a situation at GD. They really need you, quick."

"Sure. I'll be on my way as soon as I-" she got up to use the restroom before she had to save the town again, but wobbled and almost tripped had her arms had not been caught and supported by both Carter and Zane.

"Are you okay, Jo?... You're drunk?" It was clear from Carter's voice he was surprised...and disappointed.

"I don't know, Sheriff, I thought I had another 12 hours before the town tried to blow itself up again." She sighed in frustration, ripping her arms away from the two men, and straightening her suit jacket. "But as it happens, yes, I have had some alcohol."

Carter looked back and forth between Zane and Jo. "Jo, what did you ..."

Jo looked at him, her vision clear, at least for the moment. "Nothing, Carter. Just a drink. Give me a lift to GD. I'll be fine by the time we get there."

"If you're sure, Jo," he said hesitantly, but his hurry was evident in the tense lines of his body.

"Want me to drive you car after you?" Zane offered. Jo had forgotten he had been listening.

"No. You've been drinking too," she called over her shoulder as she followed Carter to the door. "Besides, you suck at stick shift."

When the were outside, Carter threw her a worried look. "You sure you're okay for this, Jo?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll let my team handle any necessary firearms."

"No, I meant with Zane. What are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know," she replied, looking down at her hands in her lap. "He has a lot of questions. He's been watching us for a while, and I think he knows something is up. Maybe not how big... but he has an idea."

"We should talk to the others. This has to be a decision we're all in agreement on."

"What about with Grace?"

"Grace was different. We could be sure of her loyalty and her secrecy. With Zane..."

Jo sighed. It was different with Zane, and she hated that it was. "I know. We can't trust Zane the same way we could Grace."

"I'm so sorry Jo. We'll bring it up to the others, of course."

"If it's okay, I'd rather not be the one to tell him." Jo said quietly. She could feel Carter's sympathetic gaze on her, but she needed to get out of her head and start thinking like a soldier. "Enough about Zane. Tell me about what's going on at GD."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka, or any of the characters. I am not making money from them.

On the way to GD, Carter explained how Dr. Conner, the resident lepidopterologist, the butterfly guy, had been working on butterfly mating.

"How is butterfly mating important to GD?" Jo asked.

"Endangering species, saving the planet, etcetera. Apparently he was mixing up some pretty strong pheromones..."

Jo groaned. "Don't tell me it has everyone feeling horny. I really don't think I could handle that kind of crazy right now."

"Not exactly. Allison called me about ten minutes ago. She says that instead of the pheromones making people ... amorous, there's a whole lot of posturing and tension."

"What does that mean exactly?"

"Small fights, yelling, a reestablishing of the GD pecking order... and a lot of guys hitting on Allison. That's how she knew something was wrong."

"Carter... you're telling me Allison figured this out because guys were hitting on her?"

A goofy grin appeared on his face. "Yeah. Isn't she great?"

Jo could not help roll her eyes, but she smiled as she did so. "Okay, next question. Why didn't GD Security call me when things started getting weird?"

"I don't know, but we need to find out."

Both the adrenaline of a crisis and the crisp fall air were enough to clear Jo's head of the fuzziness she had welcomed earlier. She strode forcefully into Security Ops, crossed her arms, and started barking at the personnel inside.

"Brown! Patel! Report!"

Her captains, two ex-marines who also had a secret penchant for science fiction novels, were staring at each other in the middle of the room, tense and poised as if a conflict was going to break out... between them.

At her voice, they turned and stood straighter.

"Everything is under control, Ma'am." That was Brown. "We had a few insubordination issues, but we're working them out."

"Johnson and his team are out currently breaking up a girl fight in section one," Patel added.

Jo raised her eyebrows. "Girl fight?"

Patel swallowed. "Yes Ma'am. They were returning from a disturbance in Section two when it broke out."

"And nobody thought to call me?" She asked pointedly. "Dr. Blake has identified an animal pheromone that has been infecting people at GD. I want to know why you haven't looked into it."

"She's just a nerd," Patel chuckled, then quieted down when he saw Jo's face.

"How many times has a wayward flesh-eating bacteria gotten lose? Strange electromagnetic fields gone haywire? Subsonic pulses messing with our brainwaves? We don't take anything for granted here at Eureka, got that?" Her voice had gotten louder as she had spoken, she realized. Obviously her staff was suffering from the effects of the pheromones, and if she was not already, she would be too. She needed to figure out how it had been transmitted and how to stop it. And quickly.

"Brown. I want you and your team to head down to Dr. Blake's lab and see if you can help her. As an escort, courier, anything she needs. Right now she's on point for making a cure. Patel - take your entire team and find Dr. Conner. He's the butterfly guy who might be responsible. We need to secure his lab. We're going to need all the data we can get."

"What can I do?"

Jo spun on her heel and felt her chest twinge. Zane looked like he had been running after her since she had left the Ivy. She turned back to Brown and Patel, and motioned them off with her head. They each seemed to glare briefly at each other before moving out the door.

"What are you doing here, Zane?"

"I thought I could help?"

"Zane, the last thing we need is more people getting infected by whatever is going on here. Are you even sober?"

"I had one drink, Jo. And didn't you just say you needed someone to head to Dr. Conner's lab and get data? Who better to dig around in somebody's files than me?" He smiled, and Jo felt her resolve crumbling.

Jo sighed. "Okay. Allison - Dr. Blake - thinks that one of Dr. Conner's experiments with butterfly pheromones is causing people at GD to try to reestablish the pecking order and basically fight to look good for potential mates. Anything you can find out about his current projects, tests he's run, that sort of thing, might be useful. I'm making Dr. Blake's lab is research central right now."

"I'm no expert," he said with a confused look on his face, "but I did do a science project in middle school about butterflies. I didn't think their pheromones could do things like that."

"Then we need to figure out what is."

Zane seemed to hesitate in the doorway for a moment, but finally nodded and turned to go.

"Oh, Zane?" Jo called. "Thanks."

"No problem Lupo," he winked.

She rolled her eyes at his back, but part of her was secretly grateful he was here to help.

Her phone buzzed.

"Lupo."

"Hey Jo, it's Carter. Find anything out?"

"Not really. I've sent people to Dr. Blake's lab for protection, escort, that sort of thing. I also have Zane and a team heading to Dr. Conner's office."

"Zane?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, okay. Keep me updated."

Jo sat down in the chair in front of the monitor bank. She could scroll through every security camera from here, and she did so to watch Zane and Patel's team walk down the hallway to Dr. Conner's lab.

It was lucky she did, otherwise she would never have seen her captain punch Zane in the side of the head, dropping the man in a single swing.

In an instant she was running out the door.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka, or any of the characters. I am not making money from them.

XXXXX

Zane awoke to a pounding in his head and a light touch on his face. He cracked open his eyes, and was immediately sorry he did. Jo was standing over him, glaring. He closed his eyes and tried to think what she could be mad about now.

"Zane, are you okay?"

"What did I do now?" he groaned.

"Zane. I need you to focus. One of my captains, Anush Patel, knocked you out. You were on your way to Dr. Conner's lab. I need you to tell me what happened."

He frowned. Man he had a headache! Probably from the alcohol he had earlier. At the Ivy... with Jo. She had said he was bad at stick shift. How had she known that? He had followed her to GD...

"He told me to leave. Said he had everything under control. When I refused he started babbling about chain of command, and then I guess he hit me."

As his vision cleared and Jo came better into view, he could see her glare was more of a frown of concern. He was not sure if he had ever seen that look before. Maybe when he had crashed in the General's car during space week, but even then his memories were a little fuzzy.

"We should get you to Dr. Blake so she can look at your head."

"No, I'll be fine. I'm concerned though. I think your teams are definitely affected by whatever is going on."

"I agree. This is just like what happened earlier this year... hopefully not as violently so. From what I've seen on the monitors, people are reacting differently from each other." She helped him sit up, and he found he did not mind her touch. At least at the moment he was not afraid she was intending to do physical harm to him with it.

"Reacting differently?"

"The more aggressive types, like my team," she sighed," are more prone to lashing out physically. Others seem to be resorting to boasting, starting unscheduled project tests, and badmouthing each other."

"Sounds like high school. Or at least from what I see on TV."

Jo flipped open her phone.

"Hey Carter. Zane was hit in the head by one of the security team. Does Allison have any medical staff who can check it out?"

He tried to wave her off but she ignored him.

"Great. Have them meet us in Dr. Conner's lab. And watch out for Brown and his team. He didn't seem as aggressive as Patel, but they might not be as professional if they feel like they have to prove something."

"So what happens when we get to the lab and Rambo is there?" Zane asked, finally standing slowly. The world had settled down and stopped spinning, so he thought he would be fine to walk. He stumbled his first few steps, and was more than willing to take Jo's help in continuing. After a bit he thought he could probably handle walking on his own, but he decided having Jo's arm around him was much nicer than not.

"I take over and reassign his team elsewhere."

"And if he tries to impress you? Maybe with his fists to my head again?"

"From what I can tell, when I got here, they don't view me as a potential mate. I'm ahead of them in the chain of command."

"And if they decide to buck the chain of command?"

"I remind them why I'm in charge and they're not."

She sounded like Jo as usual; tough and to the point. It was, as always, hot.

"Do you have your gun on you?" he asked suddenly.

She shook her head. "I let Carter have it in the car on the way over. God I wish I hadn't."

"How about your taser?"

She looked at him, confused. "Left it in Security Ops. Why?"

"Because I wanted to ask you out, but I wanted to make sure wasn't going to get hurt when I did."

"Oh no," she groaned, "you've been infected too."

"Why would you think that? Can't I ask you out for brunch? Or better yet, maybe to finish our drinks at the Ivy?"

"As flattering as it is," she said, though her voice did not sound as if she was flattered, "you're under the influence of alcohol and pheromones, and just received a head wound. I need you to focus on the crisis at hand."

"Dr. Conner's lab. Rambo. Got it." Maybe he did feel a bit funny. He needed to focus though. For Jo. And GD. They needed him. Jo needed him.

It was a very strange feeling, that people were counting on him to solve the problem. It had happened when he had just arrived, but then he had clinched his position as bad boy in Eureka. No one really counted on him for anything. Until Jo.

They turned a corner, and found one of Patel's team standing outside Dr. Conner's lab, looking fierce. Zane could not really tell them apart, but he could see the scowl on his face.

"Show time," he whispered.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't Eureka or any of the characters.

XXXXX

"You don't have to be so melodramatic," Jo whispered back. She unwound her arm from where she had been supporting Zane, and leaned him up against the wall. He smiled weakly. She had to block everything else out from her mind other than her task at hand, so when she turned around to face what was supposed to be her team, she was not thinking of Zane at all. Much.

"Find anything yet?" She asked, moving towards the guards.

He still had his eyes on Zane, so she moved between them, blocking his line of sight. "I asked you a question, Parker."

"No Ma'am, not that I know."

"Good work. Johnson needs help in section one. I'm sending your team back to sweep sections one through three for more altercations. I want complete write-ups of every one, and you're the best I got for that."

"And the lab?" he asked.

"I'm handling the lab now. I'll send your team after you."

He nodded and moved off. Jo allowed herself a moment to take a breath in and release it, before she entered the lab. She had been expecting the worst, but luckily not everyone was as aggressive as Patel seemed to be.

The man in question sat behind Dr. Conner's desk, his feet up on stacks of paper, as his team - her team - seemed to be rifling through the room. "Patel! I need your team sweeping sections one through three, helping Johnson's team."

"Brown can handle that." he said, not moving. The rest of the team stopped what they were doing, and were looking back and forth between the two of them.

Jo tilted her head and spoke pointedly. "They are busy. I want you to do it."

Patel stood up and sauntered over to her. She had never seen the former marine so unprofessional. Usually he did what he was told, offered insightful suggestions, and went about his duties.

He got very close, and sniffed. Loudly. "Begging your pardon," he said with false sincerity, "but are you sure you're fit to be on duty? Ma'am?"

Maybe her reaction times were a little slow, but Patel was not expecting her immediate reaction. She took a half step back and her fist flew flew at his face. When his arm reached up, she grasped it, spun him around, and had him on the floor, her knee to his kidney, in seconds. Had he really been expecting a fight, he should have been able to get out. But it seemed as if he had not gone completely crazy.

After he mumbled a few apologies and made her a few promises, she let him up off the floor. A few words and he and his team were out the door, not one of them glancing at Zane who stood at the entrance.

"Well that was impressive," he said jokingly.

Part of Jo realized at that point, she was feeling the pheromones too. She might have been able to talk Patel down, like she had the man outside, but she had acted first. She wanted to feel strong and in charge, and part of her was glad Zane had been there to see it. She needed him to see her strong and tough, not weak and vulnerable like he had at the Ivy.

Jo moved to help him, but he waved her off, walking, albeit slowly, to the seat recently vacated by Patel. She turned quickly as she heard steps running down the hall, and greeted the familiar nurse as she rushed in.

"Head wound?" she asked succinctly. Jo pointed over at Zane, who had already begun tapping away at the computer.

The nurse moved over to Zane, and smiled at him. She whispered in his ear, and Zane looked away from the screen to grin and chuckle back.

"The head wound?" Jo asked, perhaps a little bit more irritably than she should have.

The nurse gave her a dirty look, and from her pocket pulled out a mini flashlight. She shone it in Zane's eyes, the whole while laughing and joking with him. Jo could have throttled her. Finally the nurse pronounced him dizzy but fine, and recommended rest and avoiding impact with hard objects.

Jo rolled her eyes as she flounced out of the room.

Her phone buzzed, and it was Carter. "We got a problem."

Jo was at attention again. "What is it?"

"So it turns out Allison made up the whole thing about butterfly pheromones to impress me. She wanted me to think she had already figured out what was going on."

"But the symptoms are real, Carter."

"I know. But it means Dr. Conner wasn't the one responsible."

"Do we have any leads then?"

"I think I may know what's going on. I'll call you."

Jo looked at her phone in disgust. Finally she turned to Zane who was staring at her, having only heard one half of the conversation. "Dr. Blake made up the butterfly pheromones to impress Carter. We need to be searching elsewhere for the cause."

"Well, it may not have been butterfly pheromones, but it doesn't mean Dr. Conner is off the hook."

"What do you mean?" she moved around to get a better look at the computer monitor. She also enjoyed being closer to him, working with him. She forgot herself for a moment looking at his face, but as soon as he turned to her she focused back on the screen.

"You mentioned looking into his projects, and I thought he might be working on something off of GD time. Turns out he has, and it looks like he's getting paid well to do it."

"Is it related?"

"Could be. Did we ever find Dr. Conner?"


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka or any of the characters.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and giving feedback!

XXXXX

Dr. Conner, it turned out, was already being interrogated by Sheriff Carter and Dr. Blake. The information on Dr. Conner's dealings with an agricultural lobby from D.C. was old news by the time they tracked them down.

Zane scowled. As usual, the Sheriff came out smelling like roses, the hero of the town. Meanwhile he got no credit. As usual. He felt frustrated and angry, like he had let Jo down. He had needed some air to try to clear his head. After being outside for a little bit, he had begun to calm down.

He was sitting on the curb by the GD parking lot when he saw Jo stride out, alone. The sun had set a while ago, and it was getting chilly. Seeing Jo seemed to give his body a second wind. He shot up quickly and moved towards her.

"Hey Jo. What now?"

She gave him a brief smile. "Nothing. Dr. Conner confessed to the whole thing. He'd was working in GD labs with GD equipment to produce a synthetic pheromone. Dr. Blake was half right. It had nothing to do with butterflies, but it gave him a convenient excuse to be requesting all sorts of strange chemicals and supplies."

"Airborne?"

"Central air duct passes right through his lab. He didn't even know what was happening. He set some chemicals to mix or something into one of his machines, and left early for the day. When my team triggered his internal security sensors, he came back. Carter and Dr. Blake got to him first."

"How did they figure it out?" That part always confused Zane. Dr. Blake was a smart cookie, but Carter was limited to streetwise and good luck. Or so he tried to convince people.

"Apparently Dr. Blake made a comment that Carter took as a metaphor which reminded him of seeing Dr. Conner acting suspicious earlier? Something like that." She shrugged.

"So is there some sort of antidote we need to take?"

"Dr. Blake said it should wear off soon, if it hasn't already. We're flushing out GD's air system overnight and should be back on track tomorrow."

"I guess that means everything is taken care of." He did not want her to go just yet. They had worked really together, just as they had during Space Week. He hated knowing that tomorrow he might go back into work and she would be the same cold and unapproachable Jo as she was yesterday, before the crisis, before the kiss, before drinks at the Ivy.

"Everything but the paperwork. We had over twenty incidents as a result of Dr. Conner's policy infractions." She looked at her watch. "Look Zane, I gotta run."

"You'll have to hurry. Without a car, it will take you a lot longer."

"Ugh. That's right. I left it at the Ivy."

"I can give you a lift," he offered. She looked trapped and uncomfortable, and he mentally kicked himself for pushing her again. "Or I'm sure Carter can. I can run inside and see if he's still here for you?" Zane was about to turn around and indulge in some self-pity when he felt a tough on his jacket sleeve.

"Yeah, okay. A ride would be fine. Just a ride."

He grinned as if she had promised him a home-cooked dinner. He led her over to his motorcycle and with a flourish offered her the second helmet.

"You keep a second helmet with you all the time?" she asked. As realization sunk in, the smile fell from his face as well as hers. "Zoe."

"Listen, Jo, I told you. It wasn't something that was going to go any where. And now that I know there was something between us, at some point..."

"Nothing, Zane. Nothing." But she would not meet his eye.

"I don't believe you." He moved around her so she had to look at him. "I don't believe you, but I'm not going to press you on it. I know there is something going on, and I know I will find out eventually. But until I do, I'm just a friend offering a ride." She had held out the helmet again, as if she was turning him down, but he slowly pushed it back towards her. He could see that same sadness in her eyes, and it scared him to think that somehow he was responsible.

So he buckled up his own helmet, and got on the bike. He looked at her as she looked at the helmet, silently hoping she would put it on. "Come on Jo, just a ride."

"I can't answer your questions Zane, you know that."

"I wouldn't be able to hear them anyway, even if you answered them. It gets really loud and windy."

Zane could tell it was his joke that convinced her in the end. Her arms were strong around his waist, while Zoe's had always been tentative. Zoe had always clung to his back, trying to hide herself as if she expected her father to be right around the corner, waiting to catch them speeding.

Jo had no fear. She rode the bike behind him as if she had done so a dozen times or more. Maybe she had.

Zane parked in the tiny parking lot behind the Ivy. He shut off the engine and took his helmet off. When Jo got off, so did he. She looked at him in confusion as she removed her helmet, so he pointed to the bar. "It's been a long day. I might stop in to get a drink."

She hesitated.

"I know you have somewhere to be. I just thought if you had some time before then you might want to join me. Inside. For drinks."

"At the Ivy?"

"Well, we could go to Cafe Diem, but the drinks sometimes lack a little bit of punch. Not to mention the hordes of people asking us how Carter and Allison saved the day again."

"When you put it that way maybe I do need a drink," she conceded. "But only if you promise not to ask questions."

"Deal. How about no tasers, either." He secured the helmets to the bike and opened the back door to the Ivy.

"Did I mentioned I got my gun back from Carter?" Jo brushed passed him as she went in, and she still smelled like soap.

"I promise to be on my best behavior," he grinned, and followed her inside.


End file.
